Dietitian Recommends Fruits for School Lunches

Yael Chen Reviv, a dietitian for children and youth at Clalit Health Services in the Sharon-Shomron district, has provided recommendations for fruits suitable for school lunches, emphasizing their nutritional benefits and how to best present them to children. Fruits are an excellent way to enrich children's diets with natural foods containing essential fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which support digestion, immunity, growth, and overall health.

Chen Reviv advises offering children a choice of fruits, encouraging variety in colors as different colors benefit various bodily systems. She stresses the importance of washing fruits thoroughly and prioritizing seasonal produce, though many fruits are available year-round due to refrigeration. While fruit peels are rich in fiber and nutrients, it's important to consider children's preferences regarding texture and taste, as fruits are still highly nutritious without their peels.

Presentation also plays a role, with whole fruits retaining more vitamin C. However, if a child prefers cut fruit, this is also acceptable. Fruits that maintain their texture and shape, like apples, are often preferred for school lunches over softer fruits such as bananas, mangoes, and melons. Specially designed lunchboxes can help keep fruits fresh and visually appealing.

Recommended fruits include apples for their texture and vitamin C content, grapes for their sweetness and antioxidants like resveratrol, strawberries for their high vitamin C levels, plums for digestive benefits and brain-aging antioxidants, and citrus fruits like oranges and clementines for their vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. For citrus, keeping them unpeeled in the lunchbox preserves vitamin C, or the inner fruit segments can be packed separately.